Liverpool managed to keep Messi quiet until the Barca captain pounced on a rebound after Luis Suarez – the scorer of the opening goal – had hit the crossbar.

Virgil van Dijk said Messi made life difficult for the Reds and had proven he could deliver when needed.

"He's a fantastic player, that's pretty obvious. I think the difficult part against him is when we are attacking he's chilling somewhere in the corner or something. So you need to be so aware with the defensive organisation," the centre-back said.

"We knew how it would be, we knew we could overplay on that side, but when we lose easy balls or difficult balls they just try to find him and make it difficult for us on the break.

"I think he's the best player in the world and he's got that little bit extra as well that he's shown over the years."